November 22, 2011, 2:52 UTC+3Kiev’s Court of Appeals is expected to start hearing an appeal over the sentence December 13

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KIEV, November 22 (Itar-Tass) – Ukraine’s State Penitentiary Service has denied the reports alleging that the former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko, who is currently staying at a detention center in Kiev, has been denied medical aid.

“This is totally untrue,” the press department of the service said. “Timoshenko turns down any medical assistance of her own free will, including assistance in the presence of her personal doctor.”

“Information on her ostensibly helpless condition is distorted and stands at variance with reality,” the report said. “Considering her health complaints, the directorate of the detention center keeps trying to provide qualified medical aid to her.”

The Penitentiary Service stressed the complete observance of privacy as regards the health problems of the former Prime Minister.

“But in spite of this, she rejects all the checkups, both laboratory and instrumental ones, thus violating the regulations for the provision of medical aid to citizens in detention,” the report said.

Nina Karpacheva, the national parliament’s ombudswoman for human rights, who visited the detention center Monday without warning the directorate in advance, told reporters Timoshenko was in a very complicated medical condition.

“Timoshenko’s condition is bad because she couldn’t sit up on her bed when she was speaking to me,” Karpacheva said. “The situation calls for her medical examination and treatment outside the detention center.”

Kiev’s Pechersky district court sentenced Timoshenko to seven years in jail October 11 for the abuse of occupational powers during the signing of natural gas agreements with Russia in January 2009.

Kiev’s Court of Appeals is expected to start hearing an appeal over the sentence December 13.